The present invention relates to a glass holding device for temporarily holding a glass, such as a windshield glass, until an adhesive is solidified when the glass is fixed by the adhesive to cover an open section of an automobile body.
FIG. 5 shows a sectional view showing an example of a conventional glass holding device.
In FIG. 5, numeral 1 designates an automobile body, wherein in an upper flange 3 defining an open section 2, there is formed a protrusion 4 projecting downwardly to attach a stopper base 21, which is described later.
Numeral 11 designates a glass, for example, a windshield glass, for covering the open section 2.
Numeral 21 designates a stopper base attached to the upper flange 3. The stopper base is U-shaped in a side view, and is formed of a lower holding piece 22 and an upper holding piece 24. The lower holding piece 22 has an opening 23, through which the protrusion 4 enters. A rim of the opening 23 engages the protrusion 4.
Also, in the upper holding piece 24, there is provided a stopper piece 25 formed by cutting a part of the upper holding piece 24 and bending the part upwardly. Incidentally, an opening 26 is formed in the stopper piece 25.
Numeral 31 designates a stopper, which has an upper surface fixed to an upper rim of a rear surface of the windshield glass 11 by an adhesive or adhering agent, and the stopper 31 is provided on the surface abutting against the stopper piece 25 with a projection 32 entering into the opening 26. And, the lower surface of the projection 32 has an inclined guide surface.
Numeral 51 designates a molding or sealing for covering a space between the body 1 and the windshield glass 1.1.
Next, an attachment of the glass holding device and temporarily holding the windshield glass will be explained hereunder.
Firstly, the upper flange 3 is placed between the lower holding piece 22 and the upper holding piece 24, and the stopper base 21 is pushed to the upper flange 3. As a result, the lower holding piece 22 passes over the protrusion 4 by its elasticity and the protrusion 4 enters into the opening 23. Therefore, by contacting the rim of opening 23 with the protrusion 4, the stopper base 21 can be positioned and attached to the upper flange 3.
Then, the stopper 31 is fixed to the upper rim on the rear surface side of the windshield glass 11 by the adhesive or the adhering agent.
Under the condition that the stopper base 21 is attached to the upper flange 3 and the stopper 31 is fixed to the windshield glass 11 as described above, the bottom surface of the stopper 31 is placed on the stopper piece 25 and then the windshield glass 11 is moved so as to slidingly transfer the bottom surface of the stopper 31 on the stopper piece 25. The projection 32 is guided by the guide surface and enters into the opening 26 from the upper side.
Incidentally, since the projection 32 enters into the opening 26 and the upper surface of the projection 32 abuts against the stopper piece 25 constituting the upper rim of the opening 26, floating or upward movement of the windshield glass 11 is prevented.
Also, since the stopper 31 and the stopper piece 25 contact with each other at the respective surfaces, a position of the windshield glass 11 in the arrow direction can be set or defined by its own weight of the windshield glass 11.
Since the windshield glass 11 can be positioned at the open section 2 by the stopper base 21 and the stopper 31 as described above, when the windshield glass 11 is positioned after it is arranged such that a dam rubber and an adhesive, not shown in the figure, are located between the upper flange 3 and the windshield glass 11, the windshield glass 11 can be tentatively held by the glass holding device until the adhesive is solidified.
Also, in order to cover or fill the space between the automobile body 1 and the windshield glass 11, the molding or sealing 51 is fitted.
The aforementioned glass holding device has been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Registration Publication No. 2522652.
The conventional glass holding device has elasticity, and the upper and lower holding pieces 24, 22 hold the upper flange 3 so that the stopper base 21 is attached to the upper flange 3. Therefore, weight of the windshield glass 11 is applied to the stopper piece 25 in the arrow direction, so that the upper holding piece 24 and the stopper piece 25 rotate in the counterclockwise direction.
As stated above, when the upper holding piece 24 and the stopper piece 25 rotate in the counterclockwise direction, the windshield glass 11 can not be positioned at the predetermined place.
Thus, in order to position the windshield glass 11 at the predetermined place by improving the strength of the stopper base 21, if the thicknesses of the respective portions are increased to enhance the strength, it becomes difficult to bend the upper and lower pieces 24, 22 and to sandwich the upper flange 3 between the upper and lower pieces 24, 22. Thus, in this case, there is a problem that the attachment of the stopper base 21 to the upper flange 3 becomes difficult.
The present invention has been made to solve the aforementioned problem, and an object of the invention is to provide a glass holding device, wherein a stopper base can be attached easily.
Another object of the invention is to provide a glass holding device as stated above, wherein the glass plate can be positioned at a predetermined place.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.